Winston Jones applies for tickets yesterday's at the ICC/CWC West Indies office, corner of Ocean Boulevard and Orange Street in downtown Kingston. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
IT WAS slow going early yesterday at Ocean Mall in downtown Kingston as the local Cricket World Cup 2007 ticket office opened its doors for business.
All the ticket offices across the Caribbean opened yesterday while on-line applications began from midnight on May 1.
The first Jamaican office applicant, Winston Jones, said he was eager to watch Cup matches.
"I have been waiting from a child to watch World Cup cricket in the Caribbean and in Jamaica in particular," Jones said.
"This has been a long wait and I want to cash in on getting tickets early because there are limited seats and obviously there are thousands of Jamaicans and other people across the world who would have wished to come and want to come," the Portmore resident applied for four category one tickets for the semi-final and two category three tickets to watch the opening match - West Indies against Pakistan.
When The Gleaner visited the ticket office, which is situated at the corner of Ocean Boulevard and Orange Street, workers from the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc. office and from the LOC office were helping those who turned up to apply.
APPLICATIONS
Only two people submitted applications in the first few hours, so the process was easy to handle.
Carlysle Hudson, was the second person to apply.
Supervisor at the ticket office, Judith Lue, said she wasn't surprised at the low turnout.
"This morning was not a surprise because, as you know, it's the beginning of the process and most people will be going online to do their applications," Lue said.
"You might find the one-off person who is going to come into our ticket centre to do business," added Lue, who expects business to pick up soon.
Meanwhile, ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc. managing director and CEO Chris Dehring said: "We are quite overwhelmed with the initial response. It's been very exciting to see the number of persons logging on, purchasing tickets, actively from day one.
"We think it's going very, very well, the demand is very strong and I think it's good result to have so early," Dehring said.
The opening match, opening ceremony and the package which includes the final in Barbados are in high demand, organisers said.
